News

Morrisons in £500m buyback

MORRISONS, the resurgent Bradford-based supermarket giant, is expected to unveil plans this week to return more than £500m to shareholders through a share buyback. The news will come as the company announces bumper full-year results.

Marc Bolland, the chief executive drafted in from the Dutch brewer Heineken, said last March that he would review the group’s capital structure and balance sheet and announce the result alongside the company’s 2008 full-year figures.

Analysts at UBS and ABN Amro expect Morrisons to announce proposals to return between £500m and £1 billion to shareholders over the next two years. Any announcement is expected to say that the share buyback is its current intention and the capital return would be dependent on market conditions. The group is also expected to say that it will increase its dividend payments.

Analysts are forecasting a 70% rise in full-year profits before tax to about £570m. In January,